When it comes to popular sports that fans care about, I think of men’s basketball and men’s soccer.

The Binghamton University men’s soccer team had its first sellout crowd this season when 2,534 fans attended the rematch of last year’s America East Championship. The team has acquired serious accolades in the last few years and deserves the loyal fan base that it has. The men’s basketball team draws huge crowds every year due to the popularity of college basketball and our high-profile head coach. There is no problem in supporting these sports, but why can’t fans get excited about anything else?

Considering my coverage of the cross country teams for Pipe Dream the last three years, it is not shocking that I have grown to appreciate a sport that is, in my opinion, the most physically intense of any at the Division I level. These players run in practice, on the conservative side, 40 miles a week. Their “games” consist of running 8,000-meter courses. They run five miles over arduous terrain competing against 200 people and 20 schools to try to propel their team. Does that really sound boring?

How many people know that Erik van Ingen averaged five consecutive five-minute miles two weeks ago at the Penn State National? How many people know who he is?

He’s the sophomore star this season of a rising team that has broken onto the national scene. The men’s cross country team is ranked 13th in the Northeast; New Hampshire is the only America East school that is ranked higher. They go in this weekend to the America East Championship with their sights on their first-ever league crown.

Female Athlete of the Year just two years ago was given to former cross country runner Katie Radzik by the athletic department. She was also labeled Rookie of the Year by Pipe Dream. BU cross country has had talented and sensational runners who have gotten no recognition by fans. And this year the team has already broken records, barriers and looks to make history. But who is watching?

The poor turnout in recent years at the Binghamton Invitational was a probable reason that it was left off the schedule and the cross country teams do not have a home meet this season. How embarrassing is it for BU to host its only meet and to do it in front of only team members’ parents? I’m sure the runners appreciated the 10 fans besides their parents that showed up last year … even if they were runners’ roommates who were forced out of bed on a Saturday morning.

Will it take an America East crown to wake up the sleeping Bearcats-faithful who diligently show up to a soccer game when the temperature is below freezing? Will it take a run at the NCAA championship? What will it take for any fans to support the other sports?

Bearcat fans, your lack of support of the other sports out there is the reason this campus will never truly be dominant in athletics. Why would a football team ever be considered when you haven’t shown your faces and school spirit to the sports we have now?